To begin the story one must know what the gates are. They’re not really gates, you see. Long, long ago, before the Metro-East area of St. Louis (Illinois) was as large and developed as it is now, there were still vast chunks of land and country between the cities ofCollinsville, Fairview Heights, Belleville, O’Fallon, Troy, and Lebanon…. And many of these towns used to be mining towns diggin’ for coal & fortune. So, the area was criss-crossed with railroad tracks that carried the cars which shuttled the coal and other mined goods away. In some areas of the country, the land was so hilly, they needed to build bridges so the trains could run smoothly from hill top to hill top. Over the years many county roads developed, some going right under those train trestles. Thus, people now drove their cars under the tracks; the sides needing to be shored up stronger, thicker, and soon as one approached them s/he saw what appeared to be great walls coming out of the side of the hills with arches or high beams running across the top, giving the appearance of large gates.Now this in itself would mean and do nothing. They were just bridges that had roads winding under them through the country side. But somehow, someway, they became more than what they appeared. They became the gates – THE GATES OF HELL! Soon the rumor spread through the streets of towns, then the story was heard in many backyards, until at last there arose the great legend in high school hallways that only the strongest of heart dared to seek out: At midnight, when the mist rises in the countryside, start off on a damned drive through the first gate and proceed through each gate and one will find themselves IN hell! Oh, it’s not so simple of a drive as it sounds, there are some conditions:

The gates must be traveled through in the exact order: gate 1, then 2, then 3…. The drive must start exactly at midnight and not a second before. The route must take one through all the gates and in such a fashion that one does NOT drive through a gate, twice, in order to reach them all.

Say one completes this task, so what? No big deal. One winds up in Hell, eh… All one has to do is to turn around, or back up, and drive back out of gate seven, right? WRONG! No, one doesn’t escape a viewing of Hell so quickly. The devil wouldn’t want it widely known that there was an easy simple way of finding his dominion; too many priests would show up blessing the Hell away…. No, unsuspecting adventurers, upon driving back out of gate seven, discover that the gate fades away and hell is still all around them. No, as fast as one can, one must REPEAT their accomplished feat and travel back through all seven gates, but in their descending order and also going only through each gate once. Any hesitation, any stopping, any gate gone through twice….and a resident of Hell one remains, driving the infernal highway.

THE JOURNEY

I’m starting the Journey from Collinsville to Troy and back again. I’m only including seven gates. If you're starting from Troy, reverse the directions and go opposite ways (it says right, you go left). Now, I give this information on the honor system, so please, remember a few things:

Drive carefully, there are a lot of turns, sharp curves, and a couple of hairpin turns on the roads back there. Some of the roads have drop off sides of a good ten feet and some of them are not much more than loose gravel. BE ALERT & CAREFUL! We don’t need YOU joining the legend, okay? Drive SOBER! The roads a might tricky to drive correctly sober, don't make it worse by driving it hopped up on booze, drugs, or any other mind altering substance. Drive cautiously and watch for other drivers. Even in the old country days there were still SOME people living out there on the roads and now there are more. Don’t speed through and slam into someone. Don’t bother people’s homes. Okay so the story says the house is haunted or had blood rites performed at it, doesn’t mean you have the right to explore it, especially if the property is posted, “NO TRESSPASSERS!” Obey people’s privacy and the law; no sense in spending the witching hour of Halloween in jail.

How to go through the gates:

1. Take West Main Street in Collinsville, Illinois – East - to Lebanon Road and turn left. Keep traveling it till your out of town and soon you’ll come upon Gate #1.

2. Shortly fater Gate #1 Lebanon Road will turn to the right, but you need to turn immediately to the left onto Lockman Road and smack into Gate #2.

3. Go through Gate #2 and keep following Lockman Road. You’ll come to a place where the road seems to dip and go back up, part of it goes straight, the other turns right. Guess what, since you’ve been running parallel with the tracks on your right for a while, you’re going to turn right and run into Gates #3 & 4 the TWIN GATES. Be careful of the curve coming out of Gate #4 it turns sharply to the right. When you turned right you got ontoLonghi Road.

4. Keep going “straight” on this road. Longhi Road will run into and you will get back onLebanon Road. Don’t worry, you won’t double back on a bridge, trust me. Keep following Lebanon Road past Heck Road, Bohnenstiehl Road, & Pense Acres. Shortly after Pense Acres turn left onto S. Liberty Road. Follow this for a while and you’ll go through Gate #5.

5. Just after Gate #5 S. Liberty Road will run into W. Mill Creek Road. Take that to the right. Gate #6 will appear briefly afterward.

6. Keep following W. Mill Creek Road over Scott-Troy/Troy-O’Fallon Road where it become E. Mill Creek Road. Watch for Blackjack Road and take it to the left. Look next for Bauer Road and take it to the right. Follow Bauer Road and it will take you toGate #7.

7. Watch it…. Just after Gate #7 Bauer road comes out onto Hwy 40 and now nearly into Troy, Illinois so when making your turn around to make the escape, do it carefully cause one really doesn't want to see the Hell the LAW can create does one? Same goes for those starting in Troy and turning around at Gate #1 (your 7) as it’s fairly close to Collinsville.

And that's not all LOL there's some possibly connected haunts and tales to go along with this already creepy ensemble, here you go:

The Hung Child:It is whispered that upon one of the trellises, gate number two to be exact, that a child was hung. The original story says that it was a young black male, who for some reason was chased down by an angry white mob or the KKK (there are no records that indicate any hangings took place.) and hung from the tracks. Other variations say that the young man was killed by his rival for the affection of a girl. Still others say that the young man had committed a murder and in shame took his own life upon the tracks. No matter what the reason for the young man’s demise, legend has it that if you drive by that spot at night you can still see him swaying from the tracks in the moonlight. Some say if you start your midnight ramble through the Gates of Hell, upon reaching Gate 2, he will be there swaying, and wave to you as you drive past him.I know that this story is false, for my friend, Eric Miller, started this rumor years ago as part of a sociology/ urban legend experiment. He created the bare bones of a story and told it some people and waited to see 1. how long it took until he heard the story from someone else and 2. see how many variations of the story developed. He was not displeased, several variations of the story have come back to him by people who swear to him they are true and had received the boy’s salutations on their ride.

Satanic (?) Worship at the Twin Gates:In the early 70’s many folks reported great gatherings around Halloween of the less than holy kind. No one has ever been sure who these people were, what they were, what they practiced, but the legends say many things. Some state that they butchered cats, some say they attempted to sacrifice children! Whatever blood they spilled, they gathered in a circle in hooded robes between Gates 3 & 4 and the atmosphere became thick as they worked their rites. To this day people feel uncomfortable staying in that area, like they are being watched.I, myself, spent one night there. I didn’t see anyone, or anything, but I felt watched. The area in between Gates 3 & 4 was deathly quiet, not a sound at all. It was unusually dark, neither starlight nor moonlight shining through. This might not seem unusual except for the fact that if I stepped out from between the two bridges, I could see moonlight sifting through the branches and hear crickets chirping merrily. Very, very, odd.

Death House:On one side of Gates 3 & 4 there has been for numerous years a fence of some kind. In the 70’s it was a white picket kind of fence, but still a bit tall and tight woven for one. In the 80’s it was replaced with a great big chain link fence that told people to definitely STAY OUT! In the 90’s it was replaced with a better fencing system and across the road/ driveway that runs right along the side of the bridge and the train track, there is a large and strong metal swinging gate. Why is this? There are a few ideas...It is said by some that the house is haunted. This might be a lil scary at first, but why block the way? What makes these ghosts so terrifying? It is because these ghosts are the souls of a damned family seeking revenge on any who are living. What happened to them? The story goes that at the turn of the 19th-20th century a man and his family lived there: Mom, daughter, two sons. No is sure what happened to the man, the father, why he did what he did. The depression? Practitioner of dark arts? Nagging wife? No one knows but they say that the man took axe in hand and made his way home and lopped off each of his family members heads before hanging himself in the foyer. The souls of the family were made even more at unrest for it took almost six months before anyone cared to check up on the family and discover the fathers grusome deed.Others say there was no family murdered in the night. No they say that the people who talk of hooded figures in between Gates 4 & 5 have it wrong. That group of ne'er do wells don't meet there, they meet at the house to conduct their evil rites and the house has a black aura around it now for all the kittens and kids they've killed. In fact some say that up to recently, maybe even this very day, they still perform these terrifying deeds at the house. I don't know. That drive way is blocked and locked for reason; what is made private stays private in my book. When it comes out here, we'll hunt it then....

Hounds of Hell:Others say that one's drive to the seventh gate is mild. One sees Hell but nothing happens. Or some say that one sees the doorway to Hell open just beyond the seventh gate. Either way no problem to have just a quick peek, but if one lingers then one had best be prepared to fight. No, one doesn't drive into Hell itself, one finds a doorway and viewing it is fine, but tarry one second to long and soon one will see the Hounds of Hell racing out the door. For what are they racing, hmmmmmm? They are coming for whichever of your party is the most sinful. Once they've caught his or her scent if one doesn't drive one and your friends out of there post haste, the hounds will POUNCE upon the fearful sinner and take either him, or his soul, away forever into the eternal abyss.

Acid Bridge & Ghost Car:And if things weren't bad enough... some say that all of the above is just pure fantasy. Nothing ever existed there but some bridges. The train whistles just howling in the wind scared you poor, poor cowards. It's just an urban legend, nothing more....... until one night when some fun seekers decided to try the legend and made themselves a part of it. One of the bridges is now known as "Acid Bridge" this may be largely due to the graffiti spray-painted all over the bridge in hot, flourecent, neon colors that one invisions while high, or it may be that the group taking the fateful ride, were indeed hopped up on LSD while driving. No one knows. What is said is that they took a turn toward bridge six a little too fast and instead of going through the gate........ they ran INTO IT! All of them gone, their glorious lives cut short, the car incinerated. And now, it is said that they haunt the very spot. Those brave souls that attempt to make the drive through all the gates, upon reaching Acid Bridgeare greeted by them and then chased by them for the rest of their ride. Some say on Halloween, on the weekends, or some say nightly, that fateful crash is repeated again and again in ghostly re-enactment. Still others say it's just one evil, glowing, lone car, like Christine that give chase. Either way, a very scary ride.

A mister Dennis S. gives this account of Acid Bridge:

"There is one bridge that always terrified me more than any other. It is called AcidBridge. These kids were supposed to have been high on acid one night and crashed their car into the bridge. I drove out there once with two friends. We pulled up to the bridge and stopped before we got there. We were looking at all of the stuff painted there and saw lights coming toward us in the distance. So we pulled over until they passed us from the other direction. We turned around and were about thirty feet behind them. We saw them slow down when they made it to the bridge, and then they just disappeared. We were so freaked out that we just kept going. We figured it was those kids reliving the night they died over and over again."-Dennis S.

The gates of hell are various locations on the surface of the world that have acquired a legendary reputation for being entrances to the underworld. Often they are found in regions of unusual geological activity, particularly volcanic areas, or sometimes at lakes, caves or mountains.